Returning the Favor: Protect Ichigo
by RavenWingDark
Summary: AKA Four Times Soul Reapers Protected Ichigo and The One Time They Failed. Ichigo has always done his best to protect the Soul Society. These are the times they returned the favor. Ichigo whump, h/c and friendship with all Bleach's best characters.
1. Science Experiment

**Hi everybody! I decided to write this as a little celebration for archiving 150,000 words! Also I love Ichigo whump/ his friends protecting him.**

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The Four Times Soul Reapers could protect Ichigo and The One Time They Couldn't

 **1\. Science Experiment**

Ichigo looked around at the swirling spiritual pressure around him. Even Unohana had balked at its sheer strength. He was heavily injured from battle, confined to bed-rest, only half-concious, knocked out of any real sense, completely exhausted and _still_ radiating more spiritual pressure than the average captain.

They had to move him into his own room because he was causing other patients discomfort just being in his vicinity. Renji once again had to think that this man (or boy, really, he was barely a tenth of his age) was insane.

They'd just gotten over the disaster that was the Zanpakuto Rebellion and thankfully, everyone's Zanpakutos were restored to their original spots by their master's sides. Ichigo was still recovering from being in the center of that whole fiasco, even if most everyone else was well on the road to recovery.

Rukia and surprisingly, Toshiro were also in the room, the latter looking bored, sifting through paperwork. He'd entered the nearly empty room saying that Rangiku was drinking in his office and he "needed a quiet place to look through the damages reports." While the nearly empty section of the Squad Four's barracks _was_ relatively quiet, it was also very tense and not well lit—really not a good place to get paperwork done. It was a see-through excuse to say the least.

If Toshiro was honest with himself (which he wasn't, at the moment) he would acknowledge that since the disaster with fighting against the other Hyourinmaru, Ichigo and Toshiro had become friends and understood each other on a tacit level.

Ichigo looked over at Renji and Rukia. He'd been the process of waking up for a few minutes now and only seemed to realize it just that moment.

"Yo." He said, hoarsely.

"Welcome to the world of the living," Rukia smirked, "well, in a manner of speaking."

Ichigo chuckled gently, his eyes a little dull with exhaustion. He hadn't healed as quickly as he usually did. "I take it we won?"

"Yeah we won." Renji said.

"Good." He said.

"How are you feeling?" Rukia asked, touching his hand gently.

"Better than after the fight." He frowned. "Worse than before the fight."

Renji laughed this time. "Oh boy, you're really out of it, aren't you?"

"Out of what?" He blinked. The healing had left him kind of hazy.

Toshiro looked up at that one, with a vaguely annoyed look that screamed, 'you idiot.'

"Hm, that's interesting…" A croaky voice put in. Everyone but Ichigo, whose eyes were lazily following a hell butterfly passing by the window, looked over in surprise at the 12th Squad Captain at the doorway.

"What brings you here, Captain Kurotsuchi?" Toshiro asked, his eyes guarded as he looked up, pointedly closing the file he'd been looking at. Renji and Rukia tensed at their superior.

"I thought it was interesting that you had so much spiritual pressure when Nemu specifically reported that you were still rather indisposed. Originally, I thought Nemu had made a careless miscalculation but I decided to check it out. Quite interesting, considering your current state, Kurosaki."

Ichigo moved his eyes over to meet the captain. "Is that make-up or were you Michael Jackson in the Living World?"

Rukia, the only one who understood the reference, instantly covered her mouth to hold in a snort of laughter at his comment.

Toshiro's lazy turquoise eyes looked at his colleague carefully. "I'm afraid he's won't make a very stimulating conversation at the moment, sorry you came all this way."

Mayuri took another step into room, ignoring Toshiro's words. "Conversation wasn't my reason for coming. I'm officially borrowing Kurosaki Ichigo on behalf of the Twelfth Division. I'll of course return him within a week or so."

Rukia stood up, hand at her sword. Renji was up too.

"Sorry, that's not an option, Captain Kurotsuchi," Renji ground out. Ichigo looked at them with a blank look on his face. He felt kind of feverish, he realized belatedly, bringing a hand to his forehead in puzzlement. He wasn't quite following the conversation either.

"I doubt the Head Captain or Captain Unohana gave you permission to even try this." Rukia said warningly.

"I don't need Yamamoto's permission to conduct my research! It's my job!" The scientist declared.

"I'm going to get the Head Captain," Rukia said, flash-stepping away. She didn't have an political influence in this situation. A captain and lieutenant, however could pull their weight against the senior captain.

Ichigo sat up a bit, rubbing his bandaged head from where he'd nearly been brained. "Wasn't Rukia here too?" He asked in a tentative tone. His reiatsu flared in confusion, exacerbating the situation—Captain Kurotsuchi's ever-present grin widened in excitement. _He was probably planning to vivisect Ichigo,_ Renji realized with a shiver.

And Ichigo was completely unaware of the danger he was in, concussed, exhausted, feverish and injured on top of his natural cluelessness.

Toshiro walked up to meet the much taller Twelfth Squad Captain in the middle of the room. Nemu walked into the room, joining her captain's side. Her expression was blank but her presence meant a threat.

"Kurosaki isn't on your list of allowed test subjects, as you're well aware. You'll face the Head Captain's punishment if you so much as try."

"I believe my findings will be more than worth it. Don't worry, I'll put him back together when I'm done." He tried to persuade the younger captain.

"Egg." Ichigo said giggling to himself under his breath.

Neither Kurotsuchi's nor Kurosaki's comments made Toshiro or Renji feel better in the least. Renji drew his sword, ignoring the warning look from Toshiro not to elevate the conflict. Their only hope was for someone of equal or higher standing to intercede. The twelfth captain was knowledge hungry, but neither stupid nor suicidal.

He moved toward the bed, pushing past Renji and binding Ichigo's wrists together with kido. Ichigo didn't respond at all, sending another shiver of concern through Renji's spine. This last battle really had rendered Ichigo senseless.

"Howl, Zabimaru."

The time to try appeasing to the captain had passed. The tenth captain seemed to agree, drawing his own zanpakuto. Those who Kurotsuchi managed to experiment on didn't come back. And if they did by some miracle, they certainly didn't come back anything like they were before—physically or mentally.

"Captain Kurotsuchi, if you would please step back from the substitute soul reaper," a voice thick with confidence and self-assurance rung out across the room. Rukia panted by the side of her unfazed older brother. "I was in the middle of some important plans when Rukia came to me. It's best if you leave now, before this foolishness is allowed to go on any longer."

His voice continued, rich and practiced. "Or I will petition for suspension of the twelfth division for causing my sister to worry."

"Nii-sama," Rukia blushed, looking up at the noble. Kurotsuchi hesitated before backing off. Byakuya snapped his fingers and the kido around Ichigo's wrists disappeared.

Throughly outnumbered, Kurotsuchi grumbled out of the room, Nemu trailing behind.

"What a pest," Byakuya said, looking at Ichigo, who hadn't called him by his first name yet.

"Thank you for coming, Captain." Renji said, sheathing Zabimaru.

"Kurosaki's still recovering, it seems." Byakuya said.

"Stick it to the man, Byakuya. You really told Urahara 2.0 off." He said, leaning back into his pillow, his eyes fluttering shut.

Rukia's blush got fiercer at the look of indignant confusion on her brother's face. "He's got a fever, Nii-sama. I'll be a few days until he's back on his feet." Rukia explained, returning to Ichigo.

Byakuya decided to let the matter go. "I see. Make sure not to leave him without having a seated officer stationed. Captain Kurotsuchi is sure to try again." With that, Byakuya flash stepped away to see if he couldn't find the head captain to prevent this situation from happening a second time.

The three soul reapers still in the room with Ichigo sighed and sat back down, wanting Ichigo to improve now more than ever. Rukia and Renji decided to always have someone with Ichigo when he was in the Fourth Division barracks and unable to defend himself. It was a small price to pay to keep the savior of the Soul Society safe.

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 **Please** **review! I'll update soon! Also, feel free to add suggestions for other ideas-I'm not opposed to writing extra chapters!**


	2. Invisible Guardians

**Thank you for all the alerts and favorites and especially for the reviews!**

 **This one contains a bunch of soul reaper's POVs during the time when Ichigo lost his powers so it's going to be the longest or second longest chapter :)**

Yaodai: Thanks so much for the review :) You basically nailed everyone's characters. Your review was basically perfect-you're right, Renji is precious. This story was originally 4 times Renji protected Ichigo but I decided to add other characters in as well :)

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The Four Times Soul Reapers could protect Ichigo and The One Time They Couldn't

 **2\. Invisible Guardians**

 _It was three weeks after Ichigo's dying powers finally left him, after he'd held on to them so hard following his Final Getsuga._ Rukia would never be able to forget when Ichigo's sight that he had had all his life finally started to fade. She had to watch Ichigo's eyes unfocused as he slowly lost sight of her, Rukia who was right in front of him, always at his side. It had been unbelievably painful.

Going to the living world was something she didn't enjoy anymore. She caught herself heading to the Kurosaki household before she stopped herself. And she did stop herself, because Ichigo had to go on with his life. Because he wasn't a substitute soul reaper anymore. He couldn't see her. Not anymore.

She ran past a church, checking the time. 3:04. Ichigo would be heading home by now. It wouldn't hurt to check on him. There had been a recent rash of hollows running around. Presumably no longer intimidated by the freakish nature of Ichigo's spiritual pressure. Now he was at absolute zero, considerably lower than any normal human. He was nearly impossible to track for that reason.

He made her way along his route until she saw him, walking along. She got as close as she dared, even though if she stood right in front of him and he walked through her, he wouldn't notice.

No, she was afraid to get close because then she'd see that same face that always saw her for who she was, not who she was hiding behind. The same eyes that had sacrificed their spiritual sight for the sake of the Soul Reaper and the Living World.

Rukia and Ichigo wouldn't be able to talk until he died, and she went to search for him across the Rukongai. But then he wouldn't remember her and that would hurt just as badly.

A tiny hollow the size and general shape of a cat was stalking the hero of the soul society and he couldn't even tell. It was ready to pounce. It was the kind of hollow that was too weak to survive very long in the living world at all, that only took a touch from a soul reaper to kill. Still, something in Rukia snapped. Her heart thrummed in her ears. She felt the familiar pride and power and protectiveness rise up in her like a frigid dance, all the emotions she felt calling her Zanpakuto to wake. "Dance, Sode no Shirayuki!" Her ice blade appeared and in an instant, she slashed through the tiny beast. The force of the blow caused its total obliteration, not the normal disappearance after the hollow is killed.

Breathing in relief, she sheathed her zanpakuto, watching Ichigo walk by, unaware. Her fists tightened. Ichigo looked tired and withdrawn. Rukia would protect him, with all her power, regardless of her opponent. Nothing would hurt Ichigo Kurosaki while a soul reaper was around.

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 _It was four months after Ichigo's immense spiritual pressure had faded away._ Kira Izuru was stationed temporarily in the World of the Living. In Karakura Town, of course, soul reapers were seldom positioned elsewhere. If Kira didn't know better, he'd guess that someone with a great deal of influence, be it the Head Captain or otherwise, was pulling strings so competent soul reapers kept being assigned the town.

It was early in the morning and Kira was standing on a roof, in the general area of where Kurosaki Clinic was located. For some reason, hollows had been congregating in this area for the past few hours. Kira suspected that Ichigo's siblings might have been the cause of that. As he looked around, he spotted the familiar orange haired substitute—no, human boy—walking his little sisters to school. Apparently, he'd picked up the habit as of late.

Usually, he wouldn't feel compelled to follow, after all, he had the Quincy and the others who had been particularly careful about keeping him safe, but today they didn't seem to be around. He followed cautiously. He didn't know if Ichigo's sisters could see him or not.

When he saw Ichigo, Kira was surprised to feel a rush of contentedness. The Soul Society lacked a certain degree of charm without his constant intrusions and much needed assistance.

They had almost made it to his sister's school when a hollow wandered upon them, licking its lips in interest. They were walking right towards the hollow about the size of a townhouse.

Kira released Wabisuke, ready for action, jumping towards the hollow and destroying it with one blow to the hollow's mask. A hollow that Ichigo could probably have stared to death four months ago and now it would be Ichigo's demise if any soul reaper wasn't attentive enough. He clenched his teeth, for the first time, truly understanding. It was a soul reaper's sworn duty to protect this boy that had saved them so many times. Because, useful or not, Ichigo was a good man and it was the Soul Society's every intention to keep this guard—a vigil for who he had once been—up until the day Ichigo died and returned to the Soul Society he'd saved so many times.

At the very least, they owed Ichigo Kurosaki a good, long life.

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 _It had been seven long months since Ichigo's epic battle with the Aizen._ Renji had protested when Omeda had been assigned to Karakura Town, so he'd been put there instead. Not that he didn't think Omeda was strong when he actually tried, but because the guy was as blockheaded and lazy as they come in the Gotei 13. He would hardly be good at protecting Ichigo or the rest of his group. Which was basically what their job was, Renji knew it. Ichigo needed protection now and Hell if it was going to be Omeda.

Renji had made sure not to visit Ichigo after he'd lost his spiritual pressure, so much he was warned about several times. When Rukia had come back from her month of protecting the world of the living, she'd seen him and it had caused her considerable emotional pain. They'd had many long nights bar-hopping before it stopped being a constant in her mind.

But now, back in this familiar town, Renji couldn't help himself. He stopped by the Kurosaki household and jumped through the window to his best friend's bedroom. He realized how naive he'd been when he momentarily expected Ichigo to yell at him (or round-house kick him) for coming in out of nowhere. Instead, the carrot top was hunched over some homework at his desk. Renji looked around the disorganized chaos that used to be a relatively clean room, shaking his head.

Then he sat on the bed and looked at what Ichigo was doing. English homework. Pretty advanced level, or so it seemed—Renji didn't know any English himself. Then he looked at Ichigo. He was shocked when he realized Ichigo looked older.

 _Of course he does, humans age much faster than soul reapers,_ Renji remembered. He'd experienced Ichigo's growth throughout the year Ichigo had been a soul reaper. Still, not seeing him in this long had made it much more apparent. He was skinnier, an inch taller, he'd lost some muscle mass, though he was still much more defined than other seventeen year olds, his eyes looked more tired, his hair was mussed.

"You must be bored with your life now, huh?" Renji wondered out loud, his gut clenching slightly. He wanted to slip into a gigai and talk to him again but it would make it that much harder for him to move on. It's not like he could hold onto a world he couldn't see anymore. Or at least, that's how Captain Yamamoto had explained it to all the Soul Reapers that had a personal connection to Ichigo.

"You need to eat some more. You've lost some weight." Renji added, poking Ichigo's side. He didn't feel it. "…Dumb Strawberry."

No response. The separation thing wasn't easy on Ichigo's soul reaper friends either. It had worn down their morale too. Caused loneliness too. He was here, stationed to protect him, but it didn't make it easy. Especially when the sinking feeling of being looked straight through by those intense brown eyes reminded them the next time he'd see them was when he was dead.

"Idiot Strawberry, say something back." Renji said to the quiet room.

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 _It had been a full twelve months since Kurosaki's success against the high traitor, Sousuke Aizen cost him his powers._ Toshiro Hitsugaya had almost thrown a fit when he was assigned to the World of the Living for five days, especially when Rangiku had handed him a shopping list of things "they absolutely needed in the barracks." The job was beneath him and since there was no one there, time seemed to pass slower than ever. Finally, though, he submitted and entered Karakura Town.

He winced out loud when he naturally extended his senses to evaluate Ichigo's spiritual pressure. Of course there was nothing. His spiritual pressure had been effectively dead for over a year now. A span of time which was almost nothing to a soul reaper but significant for a human. _Kurosaki could be an entirely different person now,_ Toshiro told himself, walking through the air. _He probably isn't how you remember._ He tried telling himself so he didn't (Soul King forbid) miss the head-strong, orange hot-head. He couldn't convince himself.

A spiritual pressure appeared so suddenly, Toshiro stopped in surprise. It was hollow reiatsu by nature and it was nearby. With a sinking feeling, he realized he was on route to Ichigo's house. He flash stepped that direction and onto the street. The espada in front of him was easily recognizable.

"Grimmjow." It was a 'I thought you were dead and I'm pissed you're not' kind of greeting. The espada turned to smile at the captain. Toshiro pulled out his sword, the espada was already in his resurrecíon form.

With perfect timing as always, Ichigo rounded the corner, completely unaware of the situation. Grimmjow's jaguar teeth split into a grin and he was moving through the air with his sword out in a split second.

Toshiro sucked in a breath, releasing Hyourinmaru during his flash step. There was no doubt that the espada's attack would end the ex-soul reaper in an instant.

Their swords clashed. Toshiro was only a few feet in front of Ichigo, who hadn't reacted at all.

"Daiguren Hyourinmaru." The child prodigy hissed. Two icy wings grew out at his sides.

"Why are you protecting him? Ichigo's a big boy." Grimmjow yelled, adding more pressure to contest Toshiro's increasing power. Ichigo walked past both of them and Grimmjow made another move towards him, which was stopped again by Toshiro.

"I'll be fighting on Kurosaki's behalf." Toshiro told him.

"He can't see us, can he?" The espada realized. "He's gone completely human. I can get revenge." His grin widened.

"You're not going to get the chance." Toshiro told him. The captain had trained hard for the past year. he was strong. If he'd defeated Harribel eventually and she was 3, now he could have defeated 2 without too much difficultly. 6 wasn't an issue, especially as scarred as he was from his battles with Kurosaki.

—

The fight was over in less than fifteen minutes, most injuries were to the espada, who was heavily incapacitated from old battle wounds. If Ichigo was still a soul reaper, the espada wouldn't have stood a chance.

Toshiro Hitsugaya hesitated for a moment before entering the Kurosaki household. It felt right to check on Ichigo after he was so close to the fight. He was in the kitchen, pouring over math problems, eating cereal. He'd heard from Renji that Karin and Yuzu had started high school (although he wasn't sure why Renji thought it was important to mention it to him) so it made sense Yuzu wasn't around to cook and dote over him. It still made the room look lonely though. The captain stood, looking at Ichigo. It occurred to him again that Ichigo was a year older. He was eighteen now, probably preparing for college instead of fighting wars. He wondered if maybe him losing his powers was for the best. After all, he now had a chance to experience childhood and would probably live well into adulthood. He deserved it, he'd helped people selflessly since Toshiro knew him: saving Rukia, saving Orihime, himself, the soul society…

Then, he realized physically, Ichigo looked healthy. Standing, he would tower over Toshiro more than ever, he was muscular and tan. Still, his eyes betrayed…discontent. He'd been foolish to think someone like Ichigo would be happy where he couldn't push his own limits. He'd been stupid to think he wasn't aware that he couldn't protect his friends anymore. And that that fact wasn't killing him inside.

"Kurosaki," Toshiro cleared his throat, placing a phantom hand through Ichigo's shoulder. "Hurry up and regain your spiritual pressure. Everyone's waiting for you."

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 _Sixteen months had passed since Ichigo Kurosaki lost his ability to see soul reapers._ Byakuya Kuchiki didn't think it would bother him as much as he did. It didn't stop him from being indignant when the Head Captain had asked him to look over the World of the Living when a garganta was due to open.

Still, he went. Even thought the last time he'd been there was the Winter War, when fake Karakura Town had been decimated. He'd seen the loss of Ichigo directly impact those around him. Rukia had withdrawn, more or less, into the person she'd been before Ichigo. She'd gotten stronger, she'd gained her Bankai and become a lieutenant, no small feat, but she lost some of the spark she'd found fighting along side the faux- soul reaper. She missed that pig-headed substitute. The two dual blade wielding captains frequently mentioned the boy as well, Kurotsuchi occasionally requested if he could harvest one organ or another from the boy (the answer was always no) Hitsugaya seemed protective of him since after he'd gotten back from his short trip to the World of the Living himself, recently, even Soi Fon had mentioned him once, off-handedly. Not to mention his own lieutenant, who occasionally went through periods of indolence or bar hopping.

For lack of better word, Rukia and Renji were miserable when Ichigo was brought up, yet they still brought him up in conversation. Byakuya didn't quite understand why they did that.

Byakuya walked through town until sunset, having nothing to do. Eventually, he came across a wide alleyway where shouting was coming from. He glanced around the corner, almost out of reflex when he spotted a head of orange hair. Compelled to follow up, he joined the group of street trash in the alley. Ichigo Kurosaki stood in the middle of a group of fifteen boys and men. He was on guard, his backpack thrown to the side, watching the closing circle around him for the first person to make a move. He had evidently already been hit, as blood was oozing from his temple.

True to how Byakuya remembered him, he wasn't scared, panicky or apologetic. His eyes flashed around appraising his opponents, free from the glassiness of injury.

"I don't know what I did to upset you, but we don't need to settle it this way." Ichigo said.

Another man stepped out, brandishing a iron rod. Ichigo could've finished this in a second with even a hundredth of the spiritual pressure he used to have. "You've been taking out some of our pals so it's time to pay." The man's lazy excuse for enunciation disgusted Byakuya.

"You mean the muggers and pick pockets?" Ichigo scoffed. "I beat up your criminal friends so now you guys are gonna teach me a lesson?"

"No, we're going to kill you." The man with the rod charged at Ichigo without warning. But Ichigo hadn't lost his reflexes. He moved aside, bringing his arm out to divert the blow by grabbing his arm, then used his other arm to punch the man in the stomach, kick him in the shin, then chest. The man stumbled away, replaced by two new thugs.

Ichigo blocked a punch and swept his elbow across the man's chin, moving up to grab the back of the man's neck and bringing it down to his knee. The man buckled after a chop to the back of his neck. Then he back-kicked the man behind him followed by an impressive jumping front-round kick that knocked that guy out too.

The noble watching with a small smirk playing at his face. Take away everything from this boy, and he'd find something to rebuild. The fighting style he was using now was an efficient mixture between Karate and Tae Kwon Do.

Ichigo took out two more attackers in the same manner before he was struck in the back of his head with a tire iron.

In an instant, he was kicked hard in the stomach and shoved against a wall. Byakuya, who had been content to watch Ichigo's display of power, was moved into action. Such street trash were not worth his blade. In an instant, he'd struck points at the derelict-like fighters carotid arteries and pushed the others away with an elbow or, once, for the leader, a fist. He felt the man's rib cage crack at the force of his restrained attack and dusted his hand off in disgust. They were all rendered immobile in a heartbeat.

Byakuya stood in front of the Ichigo, gasping for breath from the stomach shot. A thin trail of blood spilled out of his mouth. The noble recalled that being hurt in human form was considerably more painful and serious than soul reaper form. He wondered if his injuries required hospitalization.

Ichigo looked around at the defeated thugs. He was too smart to not realize something happened. He didn't say anything out loud. He thought for a moment it had been a soul reaper but why would they show after almost a year and a half? He stayed silent, straightening himself up and catching his breath.

Byakuya's eye's narrowed as the boy recovered. He unsheathed his sword, holding it at the boy's neck. Finally, he spoke, knowing that his ears could no longer pick up his voice. "Kurosaki Ichigo. Either regain your soul reaper abilities or die, but make it quick. There's work to be done and I'm not in the mood to accept excuses." Then he sheathed his sword and walked away.

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 **Review! Whose POV was your favorite? Who do you want to see more of? I believe the next one is going to include Ikkaku, Renji and Yumichika.**


	3. Forgot the Pass

**Heres the third chapter! And just before final exams too!**

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 **3\. Without the Pass**

Renji, Yumichika, Ikkaku, and Ichigo were walking through the outskirts of Karakura Town on their way back from an incredibly stressful day at the arcade. Ikkaku and Renji were still fuming about who would've won the twelve-game pinball tie if Ichigo hadn't run out of money for tokens. Every time someone Ichigo's age passed by them on the sidewalk, Ichigo would duck behind a bush with dexterity that was impressive for a human.

"What are you doing, Ichigo? You're attracting too much attention!" Renji yelled, his hands tucked in the pockets of his cool, psychedelic pants.

" _I'm_ attracting too much attention?" Ichigo looked at his red haired friend in disbelief. "You guys are incredibly embarrassing!"

"You're the one sweating like a pig, Ichigo. Honestly, it's not beautiful at all." Yumichika remarked, running a hand along his feathers.

"You guys need to learn how to blend in! Renji, this isn't the 80s in America! Yumichika, you can't walk around in victorian dress! Ikkaku, you're…you're bald and you're carrying a sword around in your gigai!"

"Why you!" Ikkaku reached to grab the collar of Ichigo's T-shirt but he dodged out of the way, ready with his own biting comeback when a heavy spiritual pressure, intense enough for Ichigo to notice, pressed down on them.

"What?" Ichigo blinked. It had been almost a month since there had been anything with more than an ounce of spiritual pressure. Two soul reapers had been stationed in Karakura recently since Ichigo had been traveling between the Soul Society and the Living World so often as of late, he had no idea when he would or wouldn't be around.

They all waited a moment for the spiritual pressure of one of the soul reapers to appear. Nothing.

"It's nearby! Let's take care of it ourselves!" Ikkaku grinned, pushing out of his gigai cheerily. That's all the invitation he needed. "This is how we'll settle this, Renji!"

Apparently, was all the red-head needed too, as he drew his zanpakuto as a large group of minotaur-like hollows appeared in front of them.

Renji looked over at Ichigo, who wouldn't be able to appraise their spiritual power. "They're each a little lower than espada level. That's my guess at least." Ichigo grinned back at him, reaching for his pass. Then his face paled a little bit. Renji, who had also left his gigai and released Zabimaru, looked at Ichigo in confusion. The two Squad Eleven members had already dived in, fighting the creatures. Renji figured he could make up the time lost with his longer range Zanpakuto.

"I don't have my soul pass." He said quietly, not looking at Renji.

"…You don't have what?" Zabimaru dropped a little in Renji's grasp. He couldn't quite comprehend what Ichigo was saying.

"My soul pass got lost in garganta." Ichigo rubbed between his furrowed brows and groaned. Seriously, how could a teenager look so serious all the time? "I was going to bring Kon. Just in case something happened, but I threw him in the closet when he made a move on Orihime yesterday and he wasn't there this morning."

Renji stilled, looking at his orange-haired equal. Well, not at the moment, at this particular situation, he was just a human, a 16 year old who probably wouldn't be able to take a single punch from one of these things. Renji wouldn't be able to rely on him for back-up or help. Worse than that, Ichigo wouldn't able to defend himself. He couldn't flash-step in his true form, he didn't have a Zanpakuto. The hero of the Soul Society (even though Renji would never call him this out loud, except sarcastically, to make him embarrassed) was completely helpless.

Renji sighed. "Well, it looks like Yumichika and Ikkaku have it handled on the offense front so I'll hang back and make sure you're not crushed." Renji decided, flash stepping Ichigo and himself ten yards further from the fight. He couldn't get too far away, in case the two fighters did need immediate assistance, and there was no point in moving Ichigo away and rejoining the battle himself. Even in his human form, he easily emitted more spiritual pressure than any of the rest of their partially sealed Living World selves. It would only be moments before some of the attacking hollows broke off to come after him.

Ichigo pulled away from Renji's grasp, his eyes gleaming in the same determined light they did when he was about to go Bankai and kick serious ass. To him, it really didn't matter what he was or wasn't physically capable of doing. "I don't need babysitting, Renji! Go help them out!" He gestured towards the large pack of hollows, who were surrounding Yumichika and Ikkaku.

"Yeah, and let you be eaten. I can list a couple of powerful soul reapers who would be more than a little PO-ed if you were Hollow fodder." Renji shot back.

"Listen here, you red pineapple f—" Ichigo didn't get a chance to finish his argument when a armor-plated hollow appeared behind the two quarreling friends and wrapped its hand around Ichigo's body, lifting him up faster than either of them could react.

Even the unintentional pressure of its grip strained Ichigo's ribs, making it hard to breathe. Ichigo swore under his breath at his idiocy. Renji turned around from where he had turned his back on Ichigo and swore, not-so-under his breath.

"Howl, Zabimaru!" He felt his fur cape drape across his shoulders and his zanpakuto extend into a skeletal snake with a striking mane.

The hollow paid little attention to the increase in spiritual pressure from the tiny soul reaper, excited to have captured helpless prey with so much spiritual pressure. It tightened his grip and waved his fist around. Ichigo braced himself as best he could, feeling his brain hitting the sides of his skull and his neck whipping painfully around and he struggled in the hollow's grip.

Renji's Bankai was was wrapping itself around the hollow's torso. It was probably being squeezed as much as Ichigo was. The hollow brought Ichigo up to his mouth and Ichigo pried open his one of his eyes, feeling light-headed. He saw the cavernous throat contracting in excitement to push him past its two sets of white teeth. Its breath was rank but that was the least of Ichigo's current concerns. He redoubled his struggles to get free, with little care for injuring himself in the process. He heard Renji shouting his name and the hollow's arm slowly being pulled away by Zabimaru's snake bone body. His shoulder emitted a large pop and his arm was free. Ichigo struck a punch at the hollow's front tooth, wincing as the sheer pressure and strength of his attack, hard on his human body, popped his shoulder back in place. The force of his attack completely removed the hollow's front tooth, sending it flying back into its mouth.

He was airborne in a matter of seconds, the hollow releasing him in surprise or pain, with no way of catching himself.

Luckily, he didn't have to. The Hollow disappeared as it took a fatal blow from Zabimaru and Ichigo landed in a jarring—but softer than expected—spot. Arms, he realized. He looked up in confusion. Renji smiled down at him cheekily though a little out of breath, before setting him into a standing position, holding onto his shoulder until he was sure the teenager could stand. Ichigo huffed the breath he couldn't get while constricted in the hollow's tight grasp.

"You just knocked its tooth out," Renji finally laughed.

"Yeah," Ichigo chuckled.

"With your fist. In a human body." He continued, shaking his head. "Is that even possible?"

"Heh, I hadn't given it a thought before now." Ichigo said, wiping a trickle of blood off his chin.

"No kidding, man. No kidding." Renji laughed heartily as Yumichika and Ikkaku finished off the last hollow. Yumichika turned to Ichigo about the importance of keeping a good, healthy appearance but Renji wasn't paying attention.

It turned out Renji didn't need to be as worried as he had been. Even in a fragile, mortal human form, Ichigo still found the way to do defeat all odds. Truthfully, if any other human had been caught in that grip, they'd have suffered from internal bleeding, maybe even had been crushed, but there stood Ichigo, swaying a little, sure, but overall, fine. The guy truly was a monster, human, soul reaper or otherwise.

Renji, again couldn't help but think this was why he'd follow Ichigo wherever he went. Hueco Mundo, Living World, Soul Society, Hell…

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 **Please review or suggest more ideas! I'm up for writing more!**


	4. Lost without the Moon

**Here's the fourth chapter! Sorry it took so long, I didn't know where I wanted to go with it until last night. I gave some attention to some of the less obvious characters that have a relationship with Ichigo in this chapter, as well as a regular :) Hope you enjoy and thank you so much for the reviews!**

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 **4\. Lost without the Moon**

To say it was an all-out, no-holds barred fight could easily have been an understatement. The Soul Society was in chaos. A myriad of espada, arrancar and numeros had gotten into the Soul Society in the middle of what had been a Captain's meeting. Ichigo and Renji had happened to be on their way back from sparring at the Squad Eleven barracks when the hollows attacked.

It was unexpected, to say the least, that they would attack seeing as they'd defeated the Aizen over a year and a half ago by now. It was Ichigo's first time back in the Soul Society since losing his soul reaper powers from the final Getsuga. But now he was back and better than ever and due to stay in the Soul Society for a couple days while he reacquainted himself. Obviously, the remaining Hueco Mundo hell spawn had different plans about how he was going to work his way back into the Gotei 13.

The espada, a far cry from the original espada in organization, had strengthened in numbers. It seems the remaining pieces of Hueco Mundo put itself back together surprisingly well. And if Ichigo was honest with himself, during the year and a half he'd been helpless, the Captains and Vice Captains had lessened the gaps between his and their powers. As he was now, Renji would be a formidable opponent, one that he wasn't sure who would have victory.

He parried a blow with Tensa Zangetsu, flash-stepping around him to cut the espada's back. Such an aggressive move had its downfall, and he was caught on his calf with the hollow's blade trying to make his escape.

His blade arm was already severely injured, when he got a chance, he'd try to bandage his hand to the grip but he hadn't gotten the opportunity.

"What's that?" Renji pointed out anxiously. Ichigo followed his gaze to a bulky hollow that had made its way into the seireitei during the attack. It was as tall as a Menos Grande and three times as wide. It had been shrieking constantly but now it was silent, quickly sucking air. Its gray body was riddled with holes, did nothing to release the air it inhaled and it started to balloon. Within a minute, he was the size of Komamura's Bankai. Then, with a hurricane exhale force, a torrent of wind shot out at all directions and Ichigo felt himself bodily thrown on heavy air currents. He was vaguely surprised when he didn't start to slow or did he lose altitude, he was still being thrashed around with the power of a tornado. It was too windy for him to open his eyes but he felt like he was flying along at Yoruichi's top speed. It felt like five minutes before he was slammed into the dirt without warning at a hundred miles per hour and he felt the world behind his eyelids darken to black.

"Ichigo!" He felt someone prod his side and he groaned, sitting up and opening his eyes.

"Renji?" His own brown eyes looked at his pineapple-haired friend in surprise. "You got caught up in that current too?"

"Everyone did. I bet everyone's out in the Rukongai. Actually, I think we might be past the Rukangai." Renji stated, wiping dust off his hakama. "Whatever threw us out here was strong. And is probably planning on attacking us while we're divided." With that, he hefted the shikai Zabimaru onto his shoulder and stepped back.

Ichigo nodded and reached out for his sword to help him up. His eyes widened and his hand fumbled around for the slim black blade.

"Huh? Where's Zangetsu?"

"What do you mean? I didn't move him, you idiot!" Renji protested. Ichigo looked down at his lacerated arm, slick with blood and experimentally tensed the muscles a couple times. His fingers were barely responsive and his arm was numb.

"I think…I might have dropped Zangetsu." Ichigo realized, his stomach dropped too. He knew better than to expect that he could normally hold onto a sword through what felt like a typhoon.

"You _dropped_ your Zanpakuto?" Renji looked at him incredulously, making Ichigo wonder if anyone had ever done that before. And shit, if Zangetsu was really back in whatever was left in the Serietei, it would be bad news for fighting until then. His eyebrows furrowed.

"You should probably wrap that up or something, Strawberry." Renji said when Ichigo didn't answer him, staring blankly at his arm, which was not looking good by any means. At least a couple important things had been severed and Ichigo himself was looking a little pale. He looked up at Renji for a second like he'd forgotten he was there before nodding and pulling the cloth belt from his waist of his Bankai form and wrapping it tightly around his arm.

Almost immediately after he'd finished wrapping his arm, Renji realized that Ichigo's belt had started re-materializing around his waist. "What?" Renji leaned forward in confusion, jabbing Ichigo's side. "What is that?"

"Oh, my uniform is repairing itself. It does that in Bankai form because my uniform is an indicator for my reiatsu. It'll heal itself in accordance to how much reiatsu I have left."

"You're so weird." Renji said, shaking his head. "Substitute soul reapers, man."

"Like you can talk, you have a baboon snake zanpakuto."

"Oi!" Renji said. "Don't disrespect Zabimaru! It's the only zanpakuto we have at the moment," Renji pointed out, raising a tattooed eyebrow. Ichigo muttered to himself grumpily, pulling himself to his feet.

"Well, we've got to figure out how to get back to the Seireitei. Everyone will be headed back there anyway." He said dusting himself off. It felt so wrong to be missing his Zangetsu.

"Nothing we can do now, let's head back." Renji told his friend.

"Right."

Ten minutes into flash-stepping across the terrain, Renji still had yet to recognize anything.

"Come on, didn't you live here for like eighty years? Come on, old man." Ichigo said.

"The Soul Society is huge! And besides in soul reaper years, I'm pretty young. For us you're a baby, like literally." Renji shot back.

"For humans, you'd be a pile of dust, ojii-san."

"Hey, if—" Renji cut off the beginning of a rant as a wave of reiatsu swept over the two soul reapers. "Arrancar."

Ichigo instinctually reached for Zangetsu and flinched in surprise when he wasn't there. "Shit." He ground out, clenching his hands into fists and holding them out in front of him. Renji narrowed his eyes and released his zanpakuto.

"I'll handle this fight, dumbass." Renji said, jumping back as an arrancar appeared in front of him. Renji reappeared several yards behind him, extending Zabimaru and cutting its side. The arrancar, saw Ichigo, standing there weaponless and sonido-ed up to him. Ichigo flash-stepped away and the arrancar gave chase. It had no chance against the fleetness of Ichigo's bankai form and was stopped by Renji flash-stepping directly in front of the pursuing arrancar and slicing through its chest.

Renji and Ichigo both flash-stepped back to the ground as Renji sheathed his sword. "Well that was fun."

"Speak for yourself. I had to _run."_ Ichigo stressed, obviously very annoyed. He looked down at his arm troubled.

"What's up?"

"Well, I thought I would have started healing by now, but…" He turned his arm over so Renji could see. The cloth belt he'd secured around his cut arm was saturated with blood. Renji realized his other wounds were probably the same, and that moving at the speed they had been had probably been bothering the wound Ichigo had sustained on his leg. Renji examined his own body quickly, wondering if it was something the hollows had done. He pulled back his sleeve to look at one of the cuts he'd gotten himself but it was already scabbing over.

Ichigo continued, dropping his arm. "I think it's got something to do with being separated from Zangetsu. It feels strange, uncomfortable being this far away from him." He shook his head. "But there's nothing we can do but hurry back and hope everyone is alright." With that, he flash-stepped in the direction they had been traveling.

It wasn't much longer before Renji started to keep a vigilant eye out for more hollows as well as fellow soul reapers. If they had all been blown back and they were all heading back to the soul society, it shouldn't be much longer until they started to run into each other again. Assuming Ichigo and him where headed in the right direction.

They'd already run into a few hollows, two out of the three were weak and Ichigo was able to defeat with a single punch. Thinking that reminded Renji of Ichigo. The carrot-top was starting to lag behind a little bit.

"Hurry up, Ichigo!" Renji called out behind him. He was surprised when his best friend came to a complete stop. Renji flash-stepped back to see what was wrong, Ichigo had already assured him that the bleeding had slowed a few minutes ago.

"What is it?" Renji was instantly on guard. Ichigo's eyes were narrowed and he looked a little pale.

"I don't know. I just got hit with this bad headache. It just came out of nowhere…" Ichigo shook his head gently to try and clear his double vision, but it did nothing for the feeling of nausea bubbling up from the pit of his stomach. Still, his vision cleared and he felt satisfied he wouldn't be running into trees and embarrassing himself. "I'm fine now, though."

Before Renji could reply (sarcastically), a flash of purple and orange appeared at their side, causing the two to step back, ready for battle again.

"Relax, boys. It's just me." It was Yoruichi, looking completely unfazed from the earlier attack. Not a hair out of place. "I've was heading back to the Seireitei but I doubled back to see if I could meet up with anyone. Looks like I found the two of you." She purred. Of course she had had time to double back, given her incredible speed.

A chorus of roars sounded behind her. And her eyes widened a little bit. "Oh, and I brought company along too."

Renji groaned, muttering something about American superstitions and black cats being bad luck. Yoruichi gave them a small smile before turning around to face the approaching fleet of adjuchas. Renji and Yoruichi skillfully dove into the swarm, destroying them left, right and center while Ichigo hung back, fighting the few off that swept past them. Since these were stronger than the ones before and it took Ichigo more than one hit each to destroy them and made it necessary to continually flash step around dodging various blows. By the time the hundred odd- adjuchas were slain, Renji wiped sweat off his forehead and Ichigo was out of breath.

Yoruichi turned to face Ichigo in slight annoyance. "Did you decide to let your mentor take care of that herd? You could have thrown in a Getsuga Tensho and thinned them out a bit." She pointed out, not that she had difficultly fighting them off.

Ichigo helplessly showed her his empty hands. "I got separated from Zangetsu in vortex. Sorry, Yoruichi."

Yoruichi stepped closer to him. "You got _separated_ from your zanpakuto?" She asked in total exasperation. "My student is hopeless." She sighed to herself, pinching her nose. "This isn't good at all."

"It's a pain, but with the two of us, we can make our way through any amount of hollow," Renji pointed out, gesturing to the empty space the adjuchas had been minutes before.

"That's not the point, the point is that—" Yoruichi admonishment was cut off by a small 'oophf' from Ichigo. Yoruichi spun her head around to the substitute so quickly, her ponytail whipped behind her. Ichigo breathed hard, standing standing despite a dizzy spell and held the side of his head.

" _That's_ the point." She said seriously. "Ichigo, during Bankai, you and your zanpakuto are constantly supposed to share information and power. Bankai is the balance and understanding between the two of you, to be in Bankai without your zanpakuto, well, it would be very straining even for short periods of time. Have you tried to revert to your regular form?"

Ichigo hadn't thought of it that way. He took a deep breath, pushing his spiritual pressure down like a tide, but found it was stopped from moving from its condensed Bankai form. "It's not working. It's stuck."

"That's what I was afraid of." Yoruichi sighed. "Your soul reaper form is being damaged by your own spiritual pressure without Zangetsu to equal out the power flow."

Renji tried to hide his own shock. He had no idea, but admittedly, Bankai was as new to him as it was to Ichigo. "How's the headache?"

Ichigo's face set into it's normal stern expression. "Tolerable. Let's keep going, the sooner we retake the Seireitei, the sooner everything will be back to normal." It wouldn't have been as bad had he not needed access to balanced spiritual pressure to heal himself, or had he not had such powerful spiritual energy in the first place.

—

Yoruichi and Renji both knew Ichigo was putting up a front. They also knew the last thing he wanted right now was to be called out on it. Sweat dripped close to his eyes as he continued to flash-step, careful not to fall behind the soul reapers. He didn't want to give them anything to worry about it. And now that they knew they were going in the right direction, he could start sensing many spiritual pressures all converging on their target, the Seireitei.

Suddenly Yoruichi stopped and Ichigo and Renji stumbled to a stop near her. "I feel the spiritual pressure of Soi Fon and others coming from there." She pointed to the right. Sure enough, there was a large concentration of spiritual pressure radiating from there. I'm going to stop here for a few minutes but give this to her. She'll know what do to." She handed a small slip of paper to Renji, who took it in surprise. He looked at Ichigo, then back at Yoruichi before deciding he was in good hands, nodding and flash-stepping away.

Yoruichi didn't say anything before turning to look at Ichigo. "Better or worse?"

Ichigo paused for a moment. "Worse. I hoped it would get better as we got closer, but now I think it's the amount of time we're apart." He muscles were starting to hurt from his misfiring spiritual pressure and his arm had pins and needles sensations running across it. Yoruichi noticed him touch his arm and came close to him to grab it. She pushed him down to a sitting position and followed suit, carefully pulling off the entirely saturated make-shift bandage.

"If we're going into a battle like this, you can't be hindered any more than you already are." She said, her sharp yellow eyes watching lazy drops of blood seep from the laceration spanning from his wrist to the pit of his elbow. She wiped as much blood from the wound as she could before pulling off her own scarf.

"Yoruichi, you don't have to do that." Ichigo protested, putting out his hand to try to stop her, then pulled back quickly, blushing when he realized he'd touched her collarbone. Yoruichi's eyes widened mischievously at his reaction.

"Ichigo, you prude!" She laughed musically, leaning in closer to him. "You didn't even touch—"

"Yoruichi, please!" Ichigo didn't know his cheeks could flush this much when he was suffering from blood loss.

She finished removing her scarf and wrapped it tight around his wrist, moving upward. It would have stung more if he had feeling in his arm at this point. "My silly pupil is embarrassed because of his own manly desires!" She purred.

"I'm not, I just didn't want you to ruin your scarf—" Ichigo cut off his words abruptly as a his heartbeat suddenly pulsed through his temples like a gong, sending electric resonance up and down his spine. His mouth parted as he tried to recover from the effects.

"Ichigo?" Yoruichi's teasing was cut from her voice in a second. She touched his shoulder, now finished re-bandaging his arm. She frowned. "It's worse than I thought." She said, pulling him up. "We need to get you back now."

"Ah, right." Ichigo groaned, turning to the side to spit a glob of blood from his mouth. For a moment, it was like Zangetsu called out to him, reflecting the pain of a sword left alone on a battle field, powerless without a hand to wield it. Ichigo had never though of it that way, so he knew he was experiencing his zanpakuto's feelings. "I need to get back to Zangetsu. Then we'll rejoin the battle so I can make up for the trouble I'm causing." He said, simply.

Yoruichi nodded, grabbing the shoulder of his uniform, and pulling him back into a flash-step.

"What did you send Renji to do?" Ichigo asked, moving as fast as he could alongside Yoruichi. She was helping him along as the weakness he felt in his arm and leg spread and his vision was starting to get fuzzy.

"I asked Soi Fon to follow your sword's spiritual pressure once they infiltrate the Seireitei."

"You make it sound like we're Ryoka again," Ichigo grunted.

"Force of habit, I suppose." She said good-naturedly. "Anyway, I know Soi Fon will get it done for me. After all, stealth is the art of finding while not being found."

"You didn't need to do that, Soi Fon would be much more useful fighting the intruders." Ichigo pointed from here, were they could just make out distant gates, they could sense the clashing spiritual pressure of a doubt, the battle for the Seireitei had already begun.

"Of course she would, but," Yoruichi slowed them to a stop again and Ichigo gratefully huffed for breath. "You're getting worse. While I was still a captain, Kisuke told me a story of a soul reaper whose zanpakuto had been taken. Kisuke did what he could, more than he should have, to keep the man alive but he died badly." Ichigo looked at her, sweat dripping down his face. "I won't allow it to happen to my precious student." She told him, matter-of-factly.

"…Yoruichi…" Ichigo could only say, stumbling slightly.

"And we're going to need to go faster than you're moving. Without another word, she hefted Ichigo onto his back and took off again. Ichigo could have tried to resist, but all the scenery was starting to blur together around him, leaving him numb and nauseous. He hated being a burden but he'd allow it for now, just until he had Zangetsu back. Then he'd defend the place he thought of as a second home to his last breath.

Several minutes passed by in a blur, until Yoruichi stopped at the East Gate to the Seireitei and set Ichigo down gently against the massive wall. He eyes were closed, he'd slipped unconscious after another attack, stronger than the last. Yoruichi found his pulse with practiced precision. It felt thready but not weak. Not that anything about Ichigo could be considered weak, after all he managed to use Bankai in three days. He'd defeated Aizen and every other obstacle he'd come across.

She stood up as a familiar pressure came by her side.

"Master Yoruichi," Soi Fon appeared at her side, giving her a small bow. "I'm so glad to see you."

"Same here, Soi Fon. Do you have Zangetsu?" Yoruichi smiled brightly at the appearance of her former protégé.

"Of course, Master Yoruichi." Soi Fon pulled the look, black steel blade from behind her and presented it to Yoruichi before looking at Ichigo.

"Kurosaki's in bad condition. Is it from being away from his zanpakuto?" She inquired as Yoruichi lay Tensa Zangetsu on Ichigo's lap and laid his hand on its hilt. He was in bad shape, his bleeding had restarted and his breathing was shallow, but somehow he seemed at peace as soon as his fingers touched the hilt.

"Yes, but he should be alright now," she said.

Soi Fon stared at her mentor in shock. She had almost sounded motherly when she said that, like she was putting a sick child to sleep. Soi Fon pushed that strange thought aside in disgust. The substitute, despite his pluckiness, was endearing to almost all the captains and lieutenants, among others. His determination had at one point, been the driving force behind their will to fight. It certainly didn't help that to most the soul reapers, he was less than a toddler in age. For many, the human hybrid was _fun_ to have around. If Soi Fon thought 'fun' was ever something a military organization ought to have, she might be inclined to tolerate his company more.

Ichigo stirred slightly, opening his eyes. "Yoruichi? Soi Fon? You're here?" Soi Fon stiffened immediately. She hadn't even realized that her features had softened slightly looking at the injured substitute soul reaper.

"How dare you address a captain without their title? Especially to Master Yoruichi!" She yelled. The moronic substitute may be incredibly young and determined but she remembered all the reasons she couldn't stand him. "You moron!"

She was so caught up in her anger, she didn't notice her former captain's proud smile.

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 **There will probably only be one more chapter after this although I'm open to more ideas. Anyway, the last one is the one I'm most excited about :) Please leave a review if you liked it or have suggestions!**


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